Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour has been in Israeli custody for over a year for publishing a poem against the occupation. Many writers, artists and academics are between more than 200 signatories of a Hebrew petition in her defense. +972 translated it to English. Here is the full text followed by the names of the signatories.

Dareen spent three months imprisoned in various jails. After that she was transferred to house arrest far from her home, where she was forced to live with an ankle monitor and under severe restrictions. After more than half a year exiled from home, and only after numerous court hearings, was Dareen allowed to continue her house arrest in Al-Reineh (she was forced to continue wearing the ankle monitor and is not allowed to use the internet). She cannot work, and even in the six hours that she is allowed to leave her home, she must be accompanied by “overseers.” This cruelty continues all because she dared to publish a poem.

A situation in which a poet is arrested and put on trial for writing a poem contradicts the very foundations of democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of artistic expression. Over a year has passed since Tatour’s arrest, and over the past few months we have organized two events, one in Tel Aviv and the other in Haifa, in order to protest against the criminal policy taken against an Israeli citizen.

The treatment of Dareen Tatour by the authorities expresses a policy of severe discrimination against Arab Palestinian citizens’ freedom of expression. The attempt to present legitimate political protest as a criminal act prevents the possibility of honest discourse, and is intended to block dialogue between Jews and Arabs.

We, poets, authors, academics, and educators, who care for freedom of expression and the ability of Arabs and Jews to understand each other and build a life together with in this country, call on the state to put an end to Dareen Tatour’s persecution, to release her and immediately drop the baseless accusations against her.